Sylvia Stagg-Giuliano at Made in Fort Point

(Child of the Revolution)

What/Why: “Made in Fort Point will be featuring Cuba X1, the photographs of Sylvia Stagg-Giuliano for the month of July. Utilizing official and informal avenues of access, unconstrained by the customary government-sanctioned itinerary, Sylvia spent many weeks photographing daily life, from the fading grandeur of Havana to dirt-poor pig farms in the hinterlands.

“In 2005, I fulfilled a long cherished desire to visit Cuba, a country idealized by some as an idyllic socialist utopia, vilified by others as a brutal police state. I met many fascinating people, from the veteran of the Bay of Pigs incursion who proudly described his role in repelling the ‘Yanqui’ invaders, to the cab driver who confidentially described the entire country as an open-air prison.”

“I approached my subject with an open heart and mind, and tried to make this visual record of Cuba and its people both unfailingly empathetic and unflinchingly honest. “

(Coil #3, Jowita Wyszomirska)

What/Why:“Drawing Connections investigates the relationships between traditional and contemporary approaches to the act of drawing as both a singular and interdisciplinary medium, from the simple yet elegant shorthand of painters and sculptors to the elaborate brainstorming of collaborative event-based artists.

In embracing the traditional “work on paper” side of drawing, Drawing Connections explores the edgy, contemporary application of this approach and seeks the conceptual content and experimentation that this primary, flexible medium provides for today’s working artists.”

Sewing Machines: New Paintings by Katie James

What/Why: ” Aviary Gallery is pleased to present Sewing Machines: New Paintings by Katie James, her second one-person show at the gallery.

For all their detail, the paintings are deceptively simple: straightforward, well-crafted paintings of straightforward, well-crafted machines. The former statement embodies James’s ethos as an artist as well: “I sit down in front of something better made and more functional than you could possibly get today, and just try to do it justice.” And in this case, in contrast to much of the mass produced machinery marketed and sold worldwide, justice has been done. The paintings, guache and pencil on paper, like the machines they depict, are thoughtful solutions to the problem of both function and design. In addition to her freshman show at the gallery last year, Katie James, a 2006 graduate from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, has also had work shown recently at Jameson & Thompson as well as at the Torrance Art Museum.”

Featuring eight painters, printmakers and sculptors, the show highlights the different ways in which visual art can convey a narrative. Each artist uses his craft to tell a story based on personal anecdotes, classic literature, current events and cross-cultural mythologies. These conjurers use a wide range of media and imagery but, as it is widely held, each picture paints a thousand words.

Once upon a time, a woman called Scheherazade lived in ancient Persia. She married a mad king who had a history of killing his wives each morning. In order to stay alive, each night she told the king a story, but never seemed to have the time to tell the ending of her tale. Each morning the king told Scheherazade that she had one more day to live so that she could finish telling the story in the evening. Eventually, the king came to love Scheherazade as much as he loved her stories. Today, we know the collection of Scheherazade’s stories as One Thousand and One Arabian Nights.”

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Olga Antonova | William Ciccariello | Suzanne Howes-Stevens

(William Ciccariello)

What/Why:“The Rice Polak Gallery holds a prominent place in Provincetown, Massachusetts as one of the primary venues for contemporary art. Founded by Marla Rice and Richard Polak in 1992 the focus of the gallery is on the quality and context of artwork. Marla Rice assumed sole ownership of Rice Polak in 2005. The gallery represents a select group of emerging and established artists whose work is both contemporary and contemplative. The gallery is not media specific and shows a wide cross-section of artistic approaches, including, paintings, works on paper, sculpture, photography and installations. “

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Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980

What/Why:“Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980 chronicles the vital legacy of the African American arts community in Los Angeles, examining a pioneering group of black artists whose work and connections with other artists of varied ethnic backgrounds helped shape the creative output of Southern California. The exhibition presents approximately 140 works by thirty-three artists active during this historical period, exploring the rising strength of the black community in Los Angeles as well as the increasing political, social, and economic power of African Americans across the nation. Now Dig This! offers a fuller view of the changing art landscape during this important era of artistic and cultural ferment, as artists shifted from more traditional formats such as painting and works on paper to modes such as assemblage, Finish Fetish (a West Coast style of Minimalism) , Minimalism, PostMinimalism, Conceptualism, and performance.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Melvin Edwards, Fred Eversley, David Hammons, Maren Hassinger, Senga Nengudi, John Outterbridge, Alonzo Davis, Dale Brockman Davis, Noah Purifoy, Betye Saar, and Charles White. The influence of these artists goes beyond their immediate creative circles and the geography of Los Angeles and is critical to a more complete and dynamic understanding of twentieth-century American Art.”

Phantomation

What/Why: “Phantomaton, a play off of “phantom” and “automaton,” explores the world of man and creation through the influences alchemy to biotechnology and whatever lies in between. Curated by painter Joe Keinberger and sculptor Skunk, the show includes works from both artists who have created an alternate world of rabbits and robots and scarcely-there beings”

Art/Identity

(installation view)

What/Why:“Gallery 263 is pleased to present the exhibition Art/Identity, juried by Susan Sills and Geoff Hargadon, concept by Gallery 263 intern, William Simmons. Art/Identity pulls 28 artists from across the nation to explore aspects of “self” in our contemporary society. Images and objects come together to complicate gender norms, ethnic identity, cultural hybridity, and displacement. The contingency of identity has become a shared theme: whether it is through societal expectations or self-construction. As exhibition artist Tzu-Huan Lin states, artistic practice is a methodology to “do the research about myself.” Together, the artists in Art/Identity seek out new ways to describe these challenging ideas. What is produced are works that investigate individuals and how they are perceived in the world.”

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Me and My Friends Make Art II

What/Why:“Last July, Washington Street featured our member artists and their invitees in a group show about friends, community, and rad art. This show was so great that we are revisiting this theme with Me and My Friends Make Art II a group show featuring new art from 20+ artists at the Washington Street Art Center. This month will also feature two skillshares on bookmaking and silkscreening during gallery hours on Saturdays.”

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Hiroshi Masaki

What/Why:“Japan in black and white. Bookdealer and photographer HIROSHI MASAKI returns to his hometown of Uwajima, Japan, to find “the idealized, provincial town that exists universally in the hearts of all Japanese people.” ARS LIBRI and the ROBERT KLEIN GALLERY are proud to present an exhibition of Masaki’s photographs this summer at Ars Libri (500 Harrison Avenue). The show will open on Friday, July 12, and run through August 30.

The exhibition Hiroshi Masaki will feature a curated group of images from Uwajima: A Private Landscape. Uwajima’s empty streets and shuttered windows are an unexpected foil to American beach towns in the off season, deserted but not uninhabited. In the face of unfamiliar scenery, the viewer may seek out familiar sentimentalities.A reception with the artist will take place on Friday, July 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Ars Libri. A special Open House at Ars Libri will coincide with the SoWa Open Market on Sunday, July 14, from 12 to 2 PM. Both events are free and open to the public; light refreshments will be served. Bring your friends!”

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Center of Attention

(Limelight)

What/Why: “Katrina Majkut’s Center of Attention explores the nature and impact of attention placed on women within specific Western marriage rituals and traditions. Both her paintings and cross stitch artworks grapple with the complexities of feminine histories and identities that are constructed in celebratory moments and time-honored traditions. Majkut subtly explores these dichotomous moments, which also conceal issues related to gender politics, sex, consumerism, vanity and the spectacle.”

Performance Art: Pedro Reyes

What/Why:“In Pharmasphere, Pedro Reyes stages a theatrical history of the production, distribution and consumption of prescription and illegal drugs in the Americas from prohibition times to the present day. Performers in the roles of farmers, gangsters, drug lords, politicians, soldiers, doctors and pharmacists demonstrate how the chemicals that we consume connect and impact us all. Using techniques developed by Brazilian theatre practitioner Agosto Boal in his conscious-raising Theatre of the Oppressed, Reyes engages the audience with issues that are too often avoided, or filtered to us through the perspectives of the media, politicians and corporations. Empowered as “spect-actors” audience members help shape the narrative as it is performed, exploring alternative outcomes and new modes of confronting and working through our multifaceted war against drugs.”

18th Annual Boston French Film Festival

What/Why:“The MFA brings together all your favorite French stars in this showcase of contemporary French cinema. Discover “many sublime pleasures” (The Boston Globe) in “one of the finest French film festivals in the United States” (The Boston Herald). Perfect for Francophiles and cinephiles alike.”

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Boston Handmade Marketplace

(Carolyn Muskat working in her Somerville studio, Muskat Studios)

What/Why:“The 6th annual Boston Handmade Handmade Marketplace features hand-crafted art and objects by independent New England artists and craftspeople along with arts organizations and local craft studios that teach and encourage creativity and craftsmanship. Boston Handmade promotes local independent businesses and individuals creating one-of-a-kind and limited edition handmade works in small studio environments.

At the 2013 Boston Handmade Marketplace 20+ exhibitors will be showing and sellingjewelry, ceramics, fine art, textiles, paper goods, handspun yarn, and more, along withorganizations and craft studios representing a wide variety of media and neighborhoods.”

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ArtCrank

What/Why: “ARTCRANK is a show of bicycle-inspired poster artwork that introduces people to talented local artists and sends them home with affordable, original works of art. Since our 2007 debut in Minneapolis, we’ve held shows in bike-lovin’ cities like Portland, San Francisco, New York, Austin, Los Angeles and London. This year, we’ll visit 14 cities in three countries, including our first show in Boston.”

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Christian Hires – Recent Work

What/Why:“My intent is to research, develop, and present a confluent of mathematics,science and aesthetics in a unique visual experience. The interaction of points, lines, shapes and perimeter is the intended narrative. These images avoid representational, social or political commentary. They are my personal dialect within the language of vision.”